ASU shows fighting spirit with QB switch

One minute and 23 seconds into the second half Saturday night, Arizona State finally chose the latter.

That's when Dennis Erickson put quarterback Brock Osweiler into the game. That's when Dennis Erickson came to his stubborn senses and took a proactive approach to ASU's football season.

Yes, the Sun Devils lost - 14-9 to No. 12 USC - and the freshman quarterback was far from perfect. But nothing good was going to come out of keeping senior Danny Sullivan in the game, not after he threw an ugly interception with 1:17 remaining in the first half that Will Harris returned for a touchdown.

That was the interception that prompted the few remaining Sullivan backers to hurl themselves off the Sullivan bandwagon.

"To throw the pick six is frickin' ridiculous," Erickson said.

Afterward, Erickson said he would make a decision today about the starting quarterback for Saturday's Oregon game.

Osweiler has to be the choice.

The longer ASU kept Sullivan in against the Trojans, the more it felt like a giant dose of disrespect aimed at the Sun Devils defense.

The defense has had Sullivan's back lately but he rarely had theirs.

Early in the second quarter, when his pass was intercepted by USC's Chris Galippo, the defense responded by not letting the Trojans convert on third down the rest of the half.

And Sullivan responded to the defense's effort by buckling at the worst possible moments.

That's not the message you want to send to your defense.

To any of your team members, really. Sullivan has displayed some shaky body language recently and the Sun Devils, in desperate need of on-field leadership, needed a change.

Osweiler is that change.

Here's one reason: "Osweiler took off a couple more times," Harris said. "Sullivan didn't really run, so it was a little different."

Here's another: Did you see his third-quarter drive, the one he took ASU 80 yards in eight plays, the one he was 3 for 3 and completed passes of 15, 27 and 23 yards, all to different receivers?

The capper, the touchdown pass to Chris McGaha, was not a raw rookie throw. Osweiler dropped back and looked off the safety before snapping his focus back to the right and finding McGaha.

Sullivan's interception in the first half, meanwhile, was committed largely because he, once again, stared down the receiver on a sideline out pattern.

Who said the Sun Devils don't have a deep passing game?

Dennis, oh Dennis, what took you so long?

Osweiler wasn't ready to take over the starting job when most fans wanted him. But he was probably ready sooner than the second half of Saturday's game.

Much of this game felt like ASU finally playing to win and not playing not to lose.

Like in the second quarter, when the Sun Devils went for it on a fourth-and-1 at the USC 39. Sullivan converted on a 1-yard run and ASU managed a field goal out of the drive to take a 3-0 lead.

This was unlike against California, when ASU opted to punt on a fourth-and-short situation in the fourth quarter and the Golden Bears rallied for a victory.

This was a good game to change the mentality.

The Sun Devils had some big-time recruits in town, including one of the more coveted defensive ends in the country: Jackson Jeffcoat, the son of the former ASU and NFL standout Jim Jeffcoat.

A swagger returned in the second half, from the quarterback, from his teammates and even from the fans.

The shift in approach is exactly what this fan base craved.

This is not to say Osweiler is the savior. This is not even to say he'll be the starter next season, when competition will be stiff.

What he is though is a symbol that the Sun Devils won't go down without a fight.

And that's exactly what everybody connected to this program needs right now.